Berkshire inmate allegedly beat another inmate over drug find

PITTSFIELD -- A jail inmate is facing a felony charge after severely beating another inmate who had reported finding drugs in a laundry container, investigators said.

Timothy Domina II, 29, a sex offender serving time for breaking and entering and other charges, attacked Sadowell L. Hudson as the man exited the shower room at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction on July 15, According to a probable cause report by the Berkshire County Sheriff's Office. Domina had removed Hudson's glasses from the bathroom just before the attack.

Hudson suffered contusions to the face and head and a broken dental plate, among other injuries, the report said. After the beating, he had trouble responding to questions. His injuries were "severe enough to warrant" him being sent to Berkshire Medical Center for treatment.

The attack was allegedly precipitated by Hudson turning in a bag of prescription pills to the jail staff that he found in the laundry facility where both men worked. After Domina was terminated from working in the laundry, which he believed Hudson had something to do with, he planned the attack, according to the report.

Hudson, who is serving time on a drug conviction, told staff later that he was worried about a possible attack when he saw Domina "strapping and unstrapping his Velcro sneakers," something known as "strapping up" which inmates do as a "declaration of aggression.

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Domina pleaded not guilty in Central Berkshire District Court on Monday to a single count of felony aggravated assault and battery before Judge Fredric D. Rutberg.

No bail was put on the case since Domina is still serving time. He is currently being housed in the segregation unit at the jail.

He is due back in court with attorney Joseph P. Colonna on Sept. 2.

Domina is a level 3 sex offender who was convicted of five counts of rape and abuse of a child and a single count of indecent assault and battery on child under 14 years of age in 2001 and of three counts of rape and abuse of a child in 2004, according to state records.

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